Fountain with an oil lamp

ABSTRACT

A fountain has a base, a body and an oil lamp. The base has a cavity receiving water. The body is mounted in the cavity and has a lamp seat a pump and a pipe. The pipe is connected to the pump and is mounted through the lamp seat. The oil lamp is mounted in the lamp seat and has a jar, a cap and a wick. The jar an oil chamber, an inner thread and a cap retainer mounted slidably on the jar. The cap is mounted detachably to the jar and has an outer thread and multiple slots corresponding to the cap retainer. The wick is mounted through the cap in the oil chamber. The oil lamp provides flickering flame effect to improve the visual presentation of the gushing water of the base and make the fountain look vivid at night or in the dark.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a fountain, and more particularly to afountain that has a durable oil lamp operating without electricity andproviding flickering firelight effect.

2. Description of Related Art

Fountains are usually set in courtyards or gardens for embellishment.

A conventional fountain has a base, a body, a pipe and a pump. The basehas a cavity defined in the base and receives water. The body, which ishollow and mounted in the cavity, has a top. The pipe is mounted throughthe hollow base with one open end connected to the pump under water inthe cavity and another open end protruding out of the top of the base.When the fountain operates, the water in the cavity is pumped throughthe pipe and gushes out of the top of the body to provide dynamic visualeffect.

To work the fountain at night or in the dark, electric lamps such ashalogen lamps or light emitting diode lamps are mounted to the fountainto light up the spring water.

However, the electric lamps include electric components such as circuitboards, switches and wires that easily break and need to be replacedfrequently.

Some fountains capable of working in the dark use exclusive candles tolight up the spring water. However, these fountains cannot operate withother kinds of candles.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a fountainwith an oil lamp to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a fountain that has adurable oil lamp operating without electricity and providing flickeringfirelight effect.

A fountain in accordance with the present invention comprises a base, abody and an oil lamp.

The base has a cavity receiving water.

The body is mounted in the cavity and has a lamp seat a pump and a pipe.The pipe is connected to the pump and is mounted through the lamp seat.

The oil lamp is mounted in the lamp seat and has a jar, a cap and awick. The jar an oil chamber, an inner thread and a cap retainer mountedslidably on the jar. The cap is mounted detachably to the jar and has anouter thread and multiple slots corresponding to the cap retainer. Thewick is mounted through the cap in the oil chamber.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fountain with an oil lamp inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the fountain in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view in partial section of the fountain in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the oil lamp of the fountainin FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the oil lamp of the fountainin FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional side view of the oil lamp of the fountain inFIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a fountain in accordance with thepresent invention comprises a base (10), a body (20) and an oil lamp(30).

The base (10) has a cavity (11) defined in the base (10) and receivingwater.

The body (20) is mounted in the cavity (11) and has a top, a top recess(21), a lamp seat (23), a pump (24) and a pipe (25). The top recess (21)is defined in the top. The lamp seat (23) is mounted in the top recess(21) and has a top, a lamp chamber (231) and multiple passages (232).The lamp chamber (231) is defined in the top of the lamp seat (23). Thepassages (232) are defined through the lamp seat (232) and communicatewith the lamp chamber (231) and top recess (21) in the body (20). Thepump (24) is connected to the cavity (11) in the base (10). The pipe(25) is connected to the pump (24) and extends through the top of thebase (20) into the top recess (21). When the pump (24) operates, thewater in the cavity (11) is pumped through the pipe (25) into the toprecess (21) and the lamp chamber (231) and then gushes out of the top ofthe base (20).

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the oil lamp (30) is mounted detachablyin the lamp seat (23) of the body (20) and has ajar (31), a cap (33), awick (37) and a lampshade (35).

With further reference to FIG. 5, the jar (31) is made of metal, ismounted detachably in the lamp chamber (231) in the lamp seat (23),receives oil and is cooled down by the water flowing through the lampchamber (231). The jar (31) has an open top, an inner surface, an outersurface, an oil chamber (310), an inner thread (311), a mount (313) anda cap retainer (315). The oil chamber (310) is defined in the jar (31).The inner thread (311) is formed on the inner surface in the oil chamber(310). The mount (313) extends out from the outer surface and has amounting hole defined through the mount (313). The cap retainer (315) isL-shaped, is mounted slidably through the mounting hole in the mount(313) and has two ends, a fastener (317) and a spring (319). Thefastener (317) is a C-shaped clasp mounted to the cap retainer (315).The spring (319) is mounted around the cap retainer (317) between themount (313) and the fastener (317) and moves the cap retainer (315) upwhen no external force is further applied to the cap retainer (315).

With further reference to FIG. 6, the cap (33) is made of metal, ismounted detachably to open top of the jar (31), covers the oil chamber(310) and has a top, a bottom, a tube (330), an outer thread (331), awick hole (333) and multiple slots (335). The tube (330) extends out ofthe bottom, is mounted detachably in the oil chamber (310) and has anouter surface. The outer thread (331) is formed on the outer surface ofthe tube (330) and detachably engages the inner thread in the jar (31).The wick hole (333) is defined through the cap (33). The slots (335) aredefined in the bottom of the cap (35) around the tube (330) and allowone end of the cap retainer (313) to detachably engages in one of theslots (335) to prevent the cap (35) from rotating arbitrarily. Pullingdown the cap retainer (315) against the spring (319) disengages the capretainer (315) from the slot (335) in the cap (35) and allows the cap(35) to be rotated and detached from the jar (31) for oil replenishment.

The wick (37) is made of fiber such as cotton, is mounted through wickhole (333) in the cap (33) in the oil chamber (310) in the jar (31),absorbs the oil in the oil chamber (310) in the jar (31) and has a topend protruding out of the cap (33) and able to be lighted up. Thelighting wick (37) provides flickering firelight effect to the gushingwater. The gushing water with the flickering firelight looks vivid atnight or in the dark.

The lampshade (35) is transparent, is made of glass and is mounted tothe top of the cap (31) around top end of the wick (37) and prevents theflame on the wick (37) from snuffing out due to wind.

The oil lamp (30) provides flickering flame effect to improve the visualpresentation of the gushing water from the top of the base (20) and makethe fountain look vivid at night or in the dark. Furthermore, the oillamp (30) operates without any electric components and is more durablethan electric lamps such as halogen lamps or light emitting diode lamps.Moreover, refilling the oil lamp (30) is easy and quick withoutdepending on the size of the jar (31).

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the presentinvention have been set forth in the foregoing description, togetherwith details of the structure and function of the invention, thedisclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details,especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts withinthe principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by thebroad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims areexpressed.

1. A fountain comprising: a base having a cavity defined in the base andadapted for receiving water; a body mounted in the cavity and having atop, a top recess defined in the top, a lamp seat mounted in the toprecess and having a lamp chamber defined in the lamp seat, a pumpconnected to the cavity in the base and a pipe connected to the pump andextending through the top of the base into the top recess; and an oillamp mounted detachably in the lamp seat of the body and having a jarmounted detachably in the lamp chamber in the lamp seat and having anopen top, an oil chamber defined in the jar, an inner thread formed inthe oil chamber, a mount extending out from the jar and having amounting hole defined through the mount and a cap retainer mountedslidably through the mounting hole in the mount and having two ends, afastener mounted to the cap retainer and a spring mounted around the capretainer and moving the cap retainer up relative to the mount; a capmounted detachably to open top of the jar, covering the oil chamber andhaving a top, a bottom, a wick hole defined through the cap, a tubeextending out from the bottom of the cap and an outer thread formed onthe tube and detachably engaging the inner thread and multiple slotsdefined in the bottom, wherein one end of the cap retainer detachablyengages one of the slots; and a wick mounted through the wick hole inthe cap in the oil chamber in the jar.
 2. The fountain as claimed inclaim 1 further comprising a lampshade being transparent and mounted tothe top of the cap around the wick.
 3. The fountain as claimed in claim2, wherein: the lamp seat further has multiple passages defined throughthe lamp seat and communicating with the lamp chamber and the top recessin the body; and the jar and the cap are made of metal.